before the garrison retired. The fire from the rocks had grown so severe that Chard was forced to withdraw his men within the entrenchment of biscuit tins. The blaze of the hospital in the darkness of the night enabled the defenders to see the enemy, and also to convert two mealie-bag heaps into a sort of redoubt to give a second line of fire.
The little garrison was eventually forced to retire to the inner wall of the kraal. Until past midnight assaults continued to be made and to be repulsed with vigour, and the desultory fire did not cease until four o'clock in the morning. When day broke the Zulus were passing out of sight. Chard patrolled the ground, collected the arms of the dead Zulus, and strengthened the position as much as possible. About seven o'clock the enemy again advanced from the south-west, but fell back on the appearance of the British third column. The number of Zulus killed was 350 out of about three thousand—the wounded were carried off. The British force had fifteen killed and twelve wounded.
Chard's despatch, which was published in a complimentary general order by Lord Chelmsford, is remarkable for its simplicity and modesty. It was observed at the time: 'He has spoken of every one but himself.' The successful defence of Rorke's Drift saved Natal from a Zulu invasion, and did much to allay the despondency caused by the Isandhlwana disaster. On the arrival of reinforcements in Natal in April the force was reorganised. Chard's company was placed in the flying column under Brigadier-general (Sir) Evelyn Wood, and was engaged in all its operations, ending with a share in the victorious battle of Ulundi on 4 July 1879. On the occasion of the inspection of Wood's flying column on 16 July by the new commander of the forces, Sir Garnet (now Viscount) Wolseley, Chard was decorated in the presence of the troops with the Victoria Cross for his gallant defence of Rorke's Drift on 22 and 23 Jan. He was also promoted to be captain and brevet major from the date of the defence, and received the South African war medal.
On his return to England, on 2 Oct., he met with a very enthusiastic reception, and, after a visit to the queen at Balmoral, was the recipient of numerous addresses and presentations from public bodies, among which may be mentioned Chatham, Taunton, and Plymouth where the inhabitants presented him with a sword of honour.
After serving for two years at Devonport, six years at Cyprus, and five years in the north-western military district, Chard sailed for Singapore on 14 Dec. 1892, where he was commanding royal engineer for three years. On his return home, in January 1896, he was appointed commanding royal engineer of the Perth sub-district; but he was attacked by cancer in the tongue, and died unmarried at his brother's rectory of Hatch-Beauchamp, near Taunton, on 1 Nov. 1897; he was buried in the churchyard there on 6 Nov. The queen, who in the previous July had presented him with the Jubilee medal, sent a laurel wreath with the inscription 'A mark of admiration and regard for a brave soldier from his sovereign.' A memorial window has been placed in Hatch-Beauchamp church, and his brother officers have placed a memorial of him in Rochester Cathedral. A bronze bust of Chard, the replica of a marble bust by G. Papworth in possession of his brother-in-law. Major Barrett, was unveiled in the shire hall, Taunton, on 2 Nov. 1898, by Lord Wolseley, who observed on the occasion that it was fitting that a bust of Chard should be placed alongside those of Blake and Speke, as representatives of the county. Chard's figure is a prominent feature in the oil paintings of the defence of Rorke's Drift by A. de Neuville and by Lady Butler.
[War Office Records; Royal Engineers' Records; Despatches; Times, 3 and 6 Nov. 1897; Royal Engineers Journal, 1879 and 1897; Celebrities of the Century, 1890; Official Narrative of the Field Operations connected with the Zulu War of 1879; Standard, 3 Nov. 1898; private sources.]
CHARLES, Mrs. ELIZABETH (1828–1896), author, only child of John Rundle, M.P. of Tavistock, was born at the Bank, Tavistock, 2 Jan. 1828. There she lived until the age of eleven (she has described her own early life in that of Bride Danescombe in 'Against the Stream,' 1873), when her parents removed to Brooklands, near Tavistock, the house of her maternal grandfather. She was educated at home by governesses and tutors, and began to write very early. James Anthony Froude, whom she sometimes saw, criticised her juvenile performances, and detected touches of genius in the 'Three Trances.' In 1848 Tennyson, while on a visit to Miss Rundle's uncle, read some of her poems in manuscript. He praised especially the lines on the 'Alpine Gentian,' and made some verbal criticisms on the 'Poet's Daily Bread' (cf. Tennyson, Memoir, i. 278).
Her first printed story, 'Monopoly,' was inspired by Miss Martineau's political economy tales. A visit to France, combined with the Oxford movement, strongly attracted her to the Roman catholic church,
